Raible Designs

The 416

LinkedIn Tech Talk: Kevin Brown on Shindig

Last Thursday, Kevin Brown visited LinkedIn's Mountain View office to do a presentation on Shindig, an OpenSocial Reference Implementation. Below are my notes from his talk.

In September 2007, Google started thinking about Social APIs. Google Gadgets would be better with access to Social Data ... but that's just Google. It was recognized that this is something that many others would like access to. OpenSocial was announced in November 2007. It's an open standard for developer platforms that has a strong emphasis on "social" data. It's based on gadgets which is now covered by The Open Social Foundation.

In November, many Googlers started working on a Google Code project based on Java and iGoogle. However, there was too much proprietary code. In December, Brian McCallister of Ning created an ASF Proposal for Shindig. It was a rough port of iGoogle but with Ning's PHP code. This turned out to be a great starting point. It immediately got interest from Google, Hi5, MySpace and others. While most committers are still from Google, there are 12 developers that work on it full time and they're adding 2 committers each month. Shindig is a Java/PHP implementation of OpenSocial. Open Campfire is an Apache-licensed .NET implementation that hopes to eventually merge into Shindig.

Read more on the LinkedIn Blog »

Happy Birthday to Me

Today I turned one year older. It's strange to look back and see that I didn't blog about my birthday in 2007 or 2006, but I did in all previous years. Reflecting back on things, my birthday celebrations have gotten better over the years (we do a golf tournament every year now), but the working-on-my-birthday thing has gotten worse.

From my first birthday post in 2003:

Ever since I worked at eDeploy.com, where they gave us our birthday's off, I've continued to take the day off.

As a contractor, it's pretty easy to say "I'm not working on Wednesday, it's my birthday". Last year was the beginning of the downturn - when I started working on my birthday. I'd just started working at LinkedIn the week before. My birthday was on the Tuesday of the 2nd week I was on-site. I found it hard to say, "I need Tuesday" off, so I worked through it. This year, as an employee, I worked through it again. I don't recommend it.

If you can, take your birthday off. I'm going to see what I can do at LinkedIn to make it a company policy that employees get their birthday off. Wish me luck.

My iPhone Review

Today I picked up a 16GB iPhone at the Park Meadows Apple Store. As far as I can tell, I got it with a stroke of luck. Last night, I was searching Apple's "Concierge" application to see which store (there's 4 in the region now) would look at my Mac Pro (averaging 4 GSOD per day). Most had a 24-hour lead time at the Genius Bar, but Park Meadows had an 8AM available.

This morning, I hauled the box into the mall and doubted the store would be open at such an early hour. Apparently, the store isn't really "open", but the Genius Bar is and they have a camp for kids from 8-10. After submitting my machine to the Genius Bar, I asked a guy about iPhones. He said they got a shipment the night before and they had 16GB White iPhones in stock.

LinkedIn has an Employee Discount for AT&T, so I asked the sales guy if I could use that. He said I needed to buy the phone from AT&T if I wanted to use any sort of "business" discount. I called the downtown AT&T store (they angrily told me they were out-of-stock) and walked by the one in Park Meadows Mall (didn't open until 10). I then rationalized that buying an iPhone from an AT&T store could take weeks. After an hour of contemplating, I decided to go ahead and purchase the white iPhone, even though I wanted black and I wouldn't get the employee discount. My reasoning:

• Employee Discount is 8% which amounts to about $8/month. My last T-Mobile bill for my Blackberry Pearl was over $200. Going from $200 to under $100 makes $8 irrelevant.
• When I bought my Escalade, I liked a black one more. When I bought my last iPod (May), I wanted a white one, but ended up with black (no white in stock). It seems fitting that I'd get a white one when I'd want black. My previous black vs. white purchases haven't bothered me post-purchase.
• These things are hard to find - I should just buy the damn thing.

So yes, I thought about the decision way too much, but managed to talk myself into it. It's a good thing too - they were sold out by the time the store opened at 10. I bought mine at 9:30.

So what do I think of it? I like it, but not for the phone or fanciness of it.

Pros: The main reason I like it is for its iTunes Remote application. With an Airport Express + Bose System at home, I've been wanting this for quite some time. I would've paid $200 for this alone.

Cons: I love the Pandora app, but was disappointed to find it didn't work with my car's iPod connector. I was hoping for Pandora-in-the-car, but no dice. The iPod feature of the iPhone works, but charging via my car's iPod connector doesn't. The enabling-of-charging feature may be software related since there's a "charging won't work" message that pops up when I plug it in.

So 12 hours after purchasing the device, I'm happy with it, but not thrilled. However, it seems like the kind of thing that grows on you and someday you wonder how you lived without it. Should be a fun ride.

Update 24 hours later: I really like that the iPhone has a speaker. I've always wanted a radio in my bedroom at night and now I have one. On the downside, the battery life is abysmal: it was fully charged at 8AM this morning and completely dead by 8PM tonight.

Bus Project Update

This evening, Jeremy from MotorWorks Restorations stopped by and picked up the bus. It'll be in the shop for around 6 months. It's scheduled to be returned in January of next year with a straight body and a slick yellow and white paint job. The engine, interior and suspension will be up to me at that point.

It's hard to believe I bought it 4 years ago. With any luck, I'll have it completely restored sometime in 2010. You can read more about its history in The Bus category.

Raible Road Trip #12 Vacation Report

I'm happy to report that the kids and I made it home safely last night after a heckuva Road Trip. We were gone for a total of 8 days and we drove for 4 of those. Here's some stats from Snow White:

• 43 Hours
• 2248.3 Miles
• 150.9 Gallons of Gas
• 14.9 AVG MPG
• 52 AVG MPH

Of course, these stats include day-to-day driving while in Montana.

Driving to Montana
We left early on Saturday morning, waking up at 4:30 and were on the road around 5. This was brutal considering I went to bed 4 hours earlier the night before. My Dad and I took turns driving and tried to listen to an audiobook (Spook Country) along the way. However, whenever one person wasn't driving, they fell asleep so the whole idea somewhat failed.

We arrived in Yellowstone around 5PM and checked into our campground. The ranger told me there were 5 grizzlies in the campsite and that we should pack up our food and put small pets in cars for the night. Of course, I couldn't wait to tell this to Abbie, who is always scared that bears will attack us when camping. I finally calmed her fears by telling her I wrestled a bear once when I was a kid and won pretty easily. After setting up camp, Abbie took a swim in the "freezing cold" Yellowstone Lake and we ate dinner and climbed into our tent shortly after.

On Sunday, we woke up and made it out of our campsite by 7:30. We drove to Old Faithful, enjoyed an eruption and proceeded to have a nice breakfast at The Old Faithful Inn. After checking out some more geysers, we made it out of the park around 11. We stopped briefly in Bozeman to see an old friend, hit Clearwater Junction and Lucky's (for huckleberry milkshakes) around 6, and made it to The Cabin just before dark.

At The Cabin
The few days we spent at The Cabin and in the Swan Valley were a lot of fun. I got to drive the family Excavator with both kids on my lap. Jack was operating the bucket while Abbie was operating the swivel of the cab. I took my mountain bike, so I got to ride some old trails I used to ride all the time as a kid. Not only were there beautiful views on the trails, but I also got to experience quite a wreck that sent me head-first into some rocks and bushes. It was the first time I've wrecked in a while where I thought to myself "that was fast and hard enough to break some bones". Luckily, all I received were a number of scratches and bruises.

On Thursday, we took my sister to the train station in Whitefish. We left early enough for my dad and I to get in some golfing at Meadow Lake Golf Course and the kids to hit Big Sky Waterslides. Apparently, they didn't have a height requirement because they were able to go on all the slides.

On the 4th, we finished Abbie's Princess float in the early morning, took a quick sauna and headed down to the Swan Valley Parade. We'd been talking about the parade and Abbie's float for several weeks, so I was kinda nervous that I might mess it up. Not only did everything go great, but there were several hundred folks that clapped when we drove by and commented on what a beautiful princess Abbie was.

After the parade and drinking some good ol' Busch Light from the "Beer Garden", we headed to Holland Lake for a swim and canoeing. We drove back home in time to play a game of horseshoes and get the fireworks setup for the evening. We had a good fireworks show (with yours truly in charge) and enjoyed lots of laughs with old friends.

The Drive Home
As usual, the drive home was the longest portion of the trip. The first day, we left the cabin around 11 and pulled into Billings around 5. The kids (and dog) did pretty good as we only needed to stop once. The shorter first day turned out to be a good idea since the kids like hotels so much. Yesterday, we left Billings around 9:30 and cruised along mightily until we hit the Colorado border. There, traffic came to a standstill and we suffered through stop-and-go the rest of the way home. After 9 hours, we pulled into my driveway, exhausted.

I don't believe we'll be driving next year. The Road Trip to The Cabin is something that should only be done every couple years. Snow White continues to be an awesome car. We towed a sawmill (on a trailer) to The Cabin and didn't even feel the load. With DVD screens in the back of both front-seats, it was an excellent road-trip vehicle for the kids. Also, it's smooth suspension made for an enjoyable experience for everyone (we drove Julie's Honda Odyssey one year and Abbie kept getting sick from the DVD screen bouncing). The more I drive it (esp. skiing, camping and on road trips), the happier I am with the purchase.

For more photos from the trip, please see Raible Road Trip #12 on Flickr.

Raible Road Trip #12

It's hard to believe it's been a little over a year and a half since Raible Road Trip #11. That's far too long ago and I'm pumped that tomorrow marks the beginning of Raible Road Trip #12.

My dad flew in last night and we've been scrambling for most of the day getting ready for our early morning departure tomorrow. I'll be waking up in about 4 hours, stuffing the (hopefully) still-sleeping kids in the car and we'll be off to Big Sky Country. We expect to be driving for 12 hours tomorrow. Our destination is Grant Village on Yellowstone Lake.

After a nice night on camping on the lake, we'll be driving through Yellowstone, checking out some gooey geysers and then driving through Montana to The Cabin. I'll be off the grid for a week and I couldn't be happier.

Happy 4th everyone!

Related: Raible Road Trip #10.

Bike to Work Day

Today is Denver's annual Bike to Work Day. While I try to bike to work everyday, it's fun to see others trying it. It's also fun to look back in this blog and see what past years were like.

In 2004, I'd just landed a gig with OpenLogic (when there was only 2 employees). The commute was great, but I only rode to work once that whole summer. I never returned to "the office" for the rest of that contract. In 2005, I'd just started working for Virtuas and didn't have a bike. Last year, I rode to The Hive.

This year, I'm riding to LinkedIn Denver (yes, we still need to decorate). I have to say, this seems like one of the best years yet. I've never enjoyed working in an office as much as I have this year. However, with 4 Mac Pros in one room, we might have to buy a window A/C unit. The room we all work in is a good 10-15 degrees warmer than the other rooms.

LinkedIn has the Biggest Rails app in the World

From the LinkedIn Engineering Blog:

Bumper Sticker started as a small experiment in August, 2007. Facebook had released their development platform while we were hard at work on our own. We were curious to experiment and discover some of the characteristics of an application platform built on a social network and to see what, if any, learning we could apply to our own efforts. After noticing that professional and business-related applications weren't flourishing in the Facebook ecosystem, a few of our Product folks put their heads together while out for a run; one engineer, one week, and a few Joyent accelerators later, Bumper Sticker was born.

We'd be lying if we said that anyone was prepared for the kind of success Bumper Sticker has had since then - though we should have expected it, given the excellent Product team here at LinkedIn. Here's a quick snapshot of Bumper Sticker statistics at this moment: Read More »

The "biggest Rails app in the world" claim comes from this video.

In addition to having a kick-ass RoR team at LinkedIn, we also do a lot with Java and love our Macs. Why wouldn't you want to work here?

If you find a gig you like, or simply have mad programming skills, contact me and I'll see if I can hook you up. And yes, we are hiring at LinkedIn Denver.

RE: Are people blogging less?

James Strachan asks Are people blogging less? Looking at my archives, I don't see a noticeable decline in the number of entries I'm writing. Granted, I don't blog nearly as much as I did in December 2002.

One interesting thing I've noticed though, is I don't read blogs much anymore. I open NetNewsWire about once a week. However, I don't think it's because of the Twitter effect. I think it's because I work in an office full of people now and I get my social interaction from them, rather than from blogs. I also think it's because I'm more interested in what's going on with LinkedIn and social networking competitors. Most of that news I get from LinkedIn News on the homepage.

If there really is a decline in blogging, it may be because of Twitter, but I think it's something bigger. I think it's folks realizing 1) it's summer and 2) you don't get a whole lot of satisfaction out of blogging - you get satisfaction in life from spending time with family and friends. So quit reading this blog and go read your kids a book or invite your friends to happy hour tomorrow. It's a beautiful time of year and it won't last forever.